Injury from debris on the road

Masonavickof

Last Tuesday I hit a large piece of debris on the road which knocked me off. Because I thought I was knocked out I needed a CT scan and x rays. No broken bones but a bad cut over my left eye which required stitches and loads of scabs everywhere.

I have a head cam and when I reviewed the footage of the incident I was not knocked out but cannot record 20 minutes post crash?

Also looks like the debris I hit was a large chunk of road which was probably from the roadworks 100 metres back. Is there any recourse on this.

Finally, I always do and I am all sure you do too. Wear a helmet, doctor said I would fractured my skull if I was not wearing it. I also had my glasses on which have a huge gash across them. You only have to look at the damage to my helmet to see how bad it could have been for me.

Best

Brian

drlodge

I would think you just have to live with it. When there are faults in the road that caused a crash, you have to show the responsible party (council or highways) have been negligent i.e. they knew about the fault but did nothing to make it good.

You'd have to show/prove that the debris was from the road works and so the people doing the road works have been negligent. Quite difficult I would think.

thistle_

drlodge wrote:

I would think you just have to live with it. When there are faults in the road that caused a crash, you have to show the responsible party (council or highways) have been negligent i.e. they knew about the fault but did nothing to make it good.

You'd have to show/prove that the debris was from the road works and so the people doing the road works have been negligent. Quite difficult I would think.

They'll always deny any liability even when you have proof that they were told about it beforehand.

What was the debris? A lump of tarmac? Bits of fencing?

-Did the police/ambulance attend? If there was a substantial bit of debris in the road then you'd hope someone else would have seen it and reported it to the council/police and they might have a record or it.
-You could try and ask for the records that the road was swept after the roadworks were finished?
-If the roadworks were being done by someone other than the council - they will probably pass the claim onto them.

I'd try and claim from the highway authority - not least because if someone did mess up there's a chance they might get a slap on the wrist and reduce the chance of it happening again to someone else.

apreading

I think it unlikely you will achieve anything from trying to find someone at fault, beyond a load of hassle for yourself in pursuing it. Unless there is something obvious, I wouldnt waste the time and just start the journey of acceptance that s**t happens.

Regarding the helmet, not that I dispute the obvious sense of wearing one, but that is kind of a stock answer from health professionals - they dont know for sure. However, when I was knocked off my bike on a roundabout wearing one and ended up with a headache for a short while where my head hit the road, I have since found another cyclist who had (as far as you can tell) the exact same accident in the same place on the same roundabout and he wasnt wearing his helmet - he now has no sense of taste or smell amongst other neurological issues...

slowbike

I'd echo the above - you'd have to prove negligence - ie the responsible party knew about the debris and did nothing to clear it away in a reasonable time frame.
It has to be asked - why you didn't see the debris?

As for helmets - yes, they're a good idea - but you can't categorically say XYZ would've happened if you were/weren't wearing one - as there are too many parameters to say what would've occured.

I've come off wearing one - smacked the back of my head ... ok to carry on 30 seconds later.
I've had a similar blow to my head whilst racing dinghies (boom hit me - my fault) - took a little while to recover then I was good to go... doesn't make me want to wear a helmet whilst racing though ... just duck my head a bit more!

gbsahne001

as per above, I've tried taking the council on, with photos showing damage to a section of road going back 12 months but got nowhere. Tried using solicitors and they advised that it's unlikely to be successful.

fenix

Driver in the local paper claimed from the council as they'd built the pavement out a bit to enclose parking bays. Apparently they paid him for his damaged wheels.

I'd have thought that would be thrown out as he should be looking where he's going and realise not to drive into pavements but....

The Rookie

The rule of thumb is negligence, if the kerbs are built out into the roadway then the guidance is to place vertical signage to make it obvious, so perhaps that is what the case swung on? Its impossible to make a reasoning based on narrow facts like that.

andyh01

What is Negligence?

Under Tort Law negligence is simply this; Can you answer yes to the 3 questions?
1) Duty of care owed - Does the Council have a duty of care to road users? Yes they do
2) Did the Council breach that duty of care - Yes they did (down to them to prove otherwise
3) Did Injury arise as a direct breach of that duty of care owed - yes it did

Which socilitor did you use? Maybe worth getting second opinion ideally from bike specific lawyers who's used to this sort of stuff. As in the main they'll be used to dealing with car drivers with Comp insurance so bar the excess and loss of ncb their insurer will cover the cost of damage and probably won't bother with trying to recover cost back from responsible party as cost more in terms of time/man hours'legal fees, than the claim itself.

Of course the council will try and fob you off, if you have the time and committed to pursue then I'd press on.. Look at the highways Act if council can reponsible for clearing snow from roads than I'm sure the'll be responsible for not removing debris from rd following repairs - What systems and procedures have they got in place to ensure road was checked/ swept before re-opening? Regardless if contracted out (they're still responsible) or were aware but didn't do anything that would still be a breach in their duty...